Americans United - Koch brothershttps://www.au.org/tags/koch-brothers
enScary Summit: Religious Right Leaders Meet To Plot Big-Money Blitz For 2014 Electionshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/scary-summit-religious-right-leaders-meet-to-plot-big-money-blitz-for-2014
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Religious Right hopes to take a page from the playbooks of Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>These are challenging times for the Religious Right. The movement seems to be rapidly losing ground on one of its signature issues, same-sex marriage, and polls show large numbers of young people recoiling from the theocratic agenda of ultra-conservative fundamentalists.</p><p>So these groups must be ready to pack up their tents and go home, right?</p><p>Not quite. <em>Politico</em> <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/social-conservatives-fundraising-101666.html?hp=f1">reported last week</a> that the leaders of more than two dozen Religious Right groups met recently in a type of super-council in Tysons Corner, Va., a Washington, D.C., suburb, to strategize about the best way to get back into the game this election year.</p><p>The answer they came up with is old-fashioned but often effective: Money.</p><p><em>Politico</em>’s Kenneth P. Vogel described the Religious Right’s plan this way: “take a page out of the playbooks of Karl Rove and the Koch brothers by raising millions of dollars, coordinating their political spending and assiduously courting megadonors.”</p><p>The formation of a new Religious Right super PAC is just one option under consideration.</p><p>The story noted that the Republican Party’s business wing is pouring lots of cash into the 2014 elections, in the hopes of giving the GOP enough of a boost to take control of the U.S. Senate. Members of the party’s well-heeled business faction have vowed that this year they will outspend and outflank social conservatives with the aim of keeping <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/election-reflection-it%E2%80%99s-good-that-church-state-wall-bashers-lost-%E2%80%93-but-let">unelectable candidates</a> like Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell off state ballots.</p><p>Religious Right groups are equally determined to keep their issues front and center in the GOP. The recent event was sponsored by the Council for National Policy, a secretive cabal of far-right groups that seeks to sculpt the Religious Right into a unified phalanx.</p><p><em>Politico</em> reported that 25 organizations participated in the summit, among them Gary Bauer’s American Values, Focus on the Family, Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Americans United for Life, the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage. Representatives of various Tea Party groups and organizations affiliated with the infamous <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html">Koch Brothers</a> were also on hand.</p><p>“There are enough people out there that are pro-life and pro-family that have the resources to fund political efforts on those issues, and for a variety of reasons they just haven’t stepped up and so we have to do a better job of getting them to step up,” Bauer told <em>Politico</em>.</p><p>Bauer added that the leaders of Religious Right groups now realize “that we’ve been behind the curve and that we need to do a better job of strategic fundraising and working together in order to get more traction on these issues.”</p><p>Bauer and other Religious Right leaders are convinced that the business wing of the Republican Party, despite its money, doesn’t truly represent the party’s base. There may be something to that. A <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-belief-in-evolution-plummets-poll-reveals/">recent poll</a> by the Pew Research Center found that only 43 percent of self-identified Republicans say that humans have evolved over time. That number was at 54 percent just four years ago, an indication that the GOP’s base is increasingly composed of religious fundamentalists.</p><p>Republican leaders are convinced that voters are angry over the disastrous roll-out of the Affordable Care Act website and the ongoing lackluster performance of the national economy. There may be something to that as well. President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have tumbled recently, and Democrats are worried that their party will suffer at the polls later this year.</p><p>But for that to happen, there can be “no fools on our ticket,” Scott Reed of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/26/chamber-of-commerce-sets-gop-goal-for-2014-no-fools-on-our-ticket/">said recently</a>.</p><p>What does all of this mean for advocates of separation of church and state? Chiefly it’s more evidence that the Religious Right <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/november-2013-church-state/featured/alive-and-kicking">isn’t dead yet</a>, despite what some political prognosticators would have you believe. These groups may be outspent by the business wing, but they have considerable influence and support among the rank-and-file party voters, which is no small thing. After all, these are the people who usually turn out for primary elections.</p><p>Although the Religious Right can’t match the business faction dollar for dollar, these groups often have a superior ground game. Their ability to mobilize right-wing evangelical voters through churches is legendary – even if it’s of <a href="http://projectfairplay.org/facts/faq/">dubious legality</a>.</p><p>In short, keep your eyes and ears open. It’s going to be an interesting election year.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/gary-bauer">Gary Bauer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-reasearch-council">Family Reasearch Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/faith-and-freedom-coalition">Faith and Freedom Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-reed">Scott Reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kenneth-p-vogel">Kenneth P. Vogel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/council-national-policy">Council For National Policy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/koch-brothers">Koch brothers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-organization-for-marriage">National Organization for Marriage</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/americans-united-for-life">Americans United for Life</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-chamber-of-commerce">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a></span></div></div>Mon, 06 Jan 2014 15:47:19 +0000Rob Boston9544 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/scary-summit-religious-right-leaders-meet-to-plot-big-money-blitz-for-2014#commentsSeven Days Of Deception: TGIF, ‘School Choice Week’ Is Just About Overhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/seven-days-of-deception-tgif-school-choice-week-is-just-about-over
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">If you think the Heritage Foundation, the Koch Brothers and Betsy DeVos are in this just to help to some poor kid in the inner city, they’ve got a privatized bridge in Brooklyn they want to sell you.
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>“National School Choice Week” is winding down, and we’ve been treated to an avalanche of propaganda for vouchers, neo-vouchers and other expressions of so-called “educational choice.”</p><p>It’s all a lie, of course. This is not about “choice.” It’s about funding religious and other private schools with taxpayer dollars and ultimately destroying the public school system.</p><p>If you think the Heritage Foundation, the <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/24/the_ugly_truth_about_school_choice/">Koch Brothers </a>and <a href="https://au.org/church-state/september-2010-church-state/featured/sneak-attack">Betsy DeVos </a>are in this just to help to some poor kid in the inner city, they’ve got a privatized bridge in Brooklyn they want to sell you.</p><p>Fortunately, Americans United and other advocates of public schools and church-state separation have been spreading an alternative message: School vouchers are a constitutional and public policy disaster.</p><p>AU has waged a Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/americansunited"> campaign</a> this week to expose the voucher forces’ prevarications. And we’ve put up a <a href="https://au.org/voucherFAIL">special webpage</a> to outline the facts about vouchers. (We have a t<a href="http://voucherfail.tumblr.com/">umblr page</a> you might enjoy as well.)</p><p>Others are weighing in, too.</p><p>* Journalist Barbara J. Miner says vouchers in Milwaukee have been <a href="http://gazettextra.com/news/2013/jan/27/say-no-expanding-school-vouchers/">“an educational policy disaster.”</a></p><p>* The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law says vouchers<a href="http://www.enewspf.com/opinion/commentary/40013-lawyers-committee-statement-on-national-school-choice-week.html"> undercut civil rights </a>and “violate the promise of equality.”</p><p>* Anti-creationism crusader Zack Kopplin says vouchers subsidize private religious <a href="http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/16/creationism-spreading-in-schools-thanks-to-vouchers/">schools that teach fundamentalist doctrines</a> instead of sound science.</p><p>* Patrick Elliott, a staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, says voucher-subsidized private schools in Milwaukee <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/school-vouchers-harm-public-education-gs8ijgm-189279981.html">indoctrinate children in religious beliefs </a>but often offer poor academic instruction. Clara Mohammed School, for example, takes children on a “Qu’ran-guided journey” but fails to take them anywhere else. “It is funded,” says Elliott, “almost exclusively through vouchers. In 2011, only 0.8% of its students –1 out of 123 – tested proficient in math and 5.7% tested proficient in reading on state exams.”</p><p>* Sectarian lobbies frankly admit that religious schools exist to evangelize, but they still want massive taxpayer funding. The National Catholic Educational Association is a major backer of “School Choice Week,” while the bishops remind us that parochial schools are key components of the hierarchy’s indoctrination efforts. Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, <a href="http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catholic-education/catholic-schools-week-parents-choice-for-the-new-evangelization.cfm">says Catholic schools offer</a> “a challenging education in an atmosphere where Jesus Christ is the center.” He calls Catholic schools “centers for the New Evangelization.”</p><p>Folks, we are in a real crisis here. Wealthy right-wing interest groups and sectarian lobbies are waging an all-out war on public schools. They want to destroy the public school system and move to a market-driven system where taxpayers are forced to support religious and other private schools of all sorts.</p><p>Major voucher campaigns are under way in Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Maine, Mississippi, Alaska and many other state legislatures. Just as ominous, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is planning to roll out a national school voucher proposal in Congress.</p><p>This is serious business. If you care about church-state separation and strong public schools, <a href="https://au.org/donate/donate-now">join Americans United</a> and <a href="https://au.org/our-work/legislative/action-center">get active </a>NOW!</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/tuition-tax-credits-and-deductions">Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-choice-week">School Choice Week</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/heritage-foundation">Heritage Foundation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/koch-brothers">Koch brothers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/betsy-devos">Betsy DeVos</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-conference-catholic-bishops">U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops</a></span></div></div>Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:11:40 +0000Joseph L. Conn7983 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/seven-days-of-deception-tgif-school-choice-week-is-just-about-over#commentsVoucher Vanguard: Indiana’s Daniels Is Just The Tip Of An Ominous Iceberghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-vanguard-indiana%E2%80%99s-daniels-is-just-the-tip-of-an-ominous-iceberg
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">LaHaye’s take on public schools is, of course, a pack of lies. Our school system is not secularist or anti-Christian or anti-American.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>America’s public school system and the constitutional separation of church and state are under relentless assault.</p>
<p>Yesterday the Indiana House voted 55-43 in favor of House Bill 1003, a <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iaVDFIdTmcv08OHlCzCmTQa2Fqmw?docId=de6a9259d7bf43e6a43d3147cbad2750">measure that</a> broadly funds religious and other private schools. The multi-million-dollar <a href="http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110428/LOCAL04/304289982">program sets up </a>a new school voucher scheme, expands a tax credit program and offers tax deductions for the costs of private education and homeschooling.</p>
<p>The bill now goes to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ desk, and he is certain to sign it. Daniels was a chief promoter of the package, and he clearly wants to force taxpayers to fund religious education. He is the founder and <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15731">driving force behind</a> The Oaks Academy, a “Christ-centered” private school in Indianapolis. Daniels sometimes poses as a moderate, but his education plan is anything but.</p>
<p>Make no mistake. This is not about “education reform.” This is part of national drive to radically privatize education. Indiana is just one of many states where mega-bucks foundations and sectarian interest groups are demanding taxpayer dollars for parochial and other private schools. Their long-term goal to shut down the public school system or leave it so damaged that its role in American life is minimal.</p>
<p>In October 2010, Religious Right godfather Tim LaHaye addressed the Council for National Policy about his <a href="http://www.cfnp.org/Page.aspx?pid=405">goals for education</a>. (The secretive CNP, as you probably know, is the premier meeting place for Religious Right zealots, TV preachers, right-wing fat cats and others who want to take America back to the Dark Ages.) He viciously mischaracterized the public schools and issued a call to arms for the CNP and its allies to remake them.</p>
<p>“I have a pet concern,” said LaHaye, the fundamentalist preacher and <a href="http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/26/122744/780">“Left Behind” author</a> who founded the CNP. “And I think it is the concern of everyone in this room; and that is we are being destroyed in America by the public school systems of our country. And it was Abraham Lincoln who said, essentially, let me educate the children of this generation and they will be the political leaders of the next generation.</p>
<p>“And, folks, we have let the enemy come in and take over the greatest school system in the history of the world. At one time, Noah Webster was the school master of America, a dedicated Christian who founded people on the Word of God and principles of God. And I’d like to see you join me in prayer that God would let us wrestle control of the American school system from the secularists, the anti-Christians and anti-Americans that want to bend the minds of our children.</p>
<p>“At our expense, they want to take the most priceless thing we have – the brains of our children – and let them educate them. They educate the teachers, they provide the textbooks, and we give them the most precious things we have. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m hoping that this conservative movement will be long enough to get a majority who can vote what I consider a new bill of rights – a bill of parental rights where parents can decide where to send their children to school.”</p>
<p>Touting “biblically based education,” LaHaye concluded that ideology is the answer to education reform, not additional funding.</p>
<p>“May I suggest,” he said, that “more money is not what they need, it is a better ideology, and we have already got it.”</p>
<p>LaHaye’s take on public schools is, of course, a pack of lies. Our school system is not secularist or anti-Christian or anti-American. It welcomes children of all faiths (and none). Nobody is turned away from the door, regardless of religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, family background, disability or economic situation. And those schools are generally governed by elected school boards, whose members represent their diverse communities.</p>
<p>But LaHaye’s screed serves an important purpose. It gives us the master plan that he and other right-wing ideologues are pursuing. That’s why we have raging battles over vouchers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and a host of other states. (And it’s why House Speaker John Boehner <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/politics/15voucher.html">strong-armed through Congress</a> a federal taxpayer-funded voucher scheme in the District of Columbia.)</p>
<p>LaHaye and his cronies hate America’s vitally important public school system. He wants to shut it down and move to a “choice” system where taxpayers subsidize private schools that are accountable only to the sponsoring clergy and are free to indoctrinate children in their “biblically based” ideology. They don’t want to improve public education, as they sometimes claim; they want to destroy it.</p>
<p>LaHaye is not alone in this battle. Betsy DeVos, the infamous Koch brothers and other wealthy members and supporters of the CNP <a href="http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/20/232844/831">are funding</a> the nationwide attack on public schools and church-state separation today. Don’t be fooled. They often put forward <a href="http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2010/09/sneak-attack.html">bogus “parents groups,”</a> to serve as front operations, but it’s they who are calling the shots.</p>
<p>Wake up, America. This radical movement is on the verge of triumph. Let your legislators and members of Congress know how you feel before it’s too late.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/betsy-devos">Betsy DeVos</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/council-national-policy">Council For National Policy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/koch-brothers">Koch brothers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mitch-daniels">Mitch Daniels</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-vouchers">school vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/oaks-academy">The Oaks Academy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-lahaye">Tim LaHaye</a></span></div></div>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:16:04 +0000Joseph L. Conn1639 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-vanguard-indiana%E2%80%99s-daniels-is-just-the-tip-of-an-ominous-iceberg#comments